5 ms·

Thank god this didn't happen in the USA. The poor iPhone owner would likely be imprisoned right now.

by eigenvector 15y ago

potatolicious 15y ago
I hate to be That Guy(tm), but only if his skin color was sufficiently dark.
- tptacek 15y ago
  You guys are both "that guy" right now. Pretty weird to see it coming from you.
  - potatolicious 15y ago
    Come on. Imagine a bearded Middle Eastern man with a device that's glowing red hot and looking like it's about to explode, on a passenger plane. We live in an era where a few brown-skinned men praying on an airplane is enough to trigger passenger panic and the involvement of the FBI. Do you really think that, if the above happened and the passenger was unfortunately of the wrong race, that passengers would not immediately jump to the "terrorism" conclusion? In the last few years passengers have jumped to that conclusion for way less. [edit] I'm not saying this would've meant throwing someone into Gitmo and throwing away the key. But you have to admit, if this happened to anyone of Middle Eastern descent, there's not a chance he wouldn't have been detained and subject to a barrage of investigations.
    - tptacek 15y ago
      There is no way anyone who's phone battery ignited on a plane would be in prison, but beyond that, I'm just watching the arc of this thread bend towards dumbness and surprised to see you on it at all. Do I think racism is alive and well all around this country? How about, just guess, and then we can keep the discussion off HN. A few years ago, this might have been a thread about battery chemistry. Now it's about the TSA. I have to believe you think that's sad too.
      - yread 15y ago
        I don't think that's off topic at all. Few years ago (ok there was no HN in that day) this [1] wouldn't happen either. [1] http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/11/locked-in-lav-terror-scare/567754/1 http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/11/locked-in-la...
        umarmung 15y ago
        Exactly. Good post. These kind of events can and routinely escalate just due to fear alone. It is also often at the expense of specific colored individuals.
      - potatolicious 15y ago
        There's really not much meat to the topic, after all - lithium battery explodes... this is pretty much an everyday occurrence everywhere, about as newsworthy as "car crash on freeway" and "pen explodes in pocket". Spectacular and scary, sure, but this is a topic that is neither surprising nor particularly alarming to a bunch of gadget geeks. Is it really any surprise that the bulk of the discussion is applying to meatier, more interesting/controversial tangents? In any case, my OP is not really meant to be a lightning rod for Yet Another TSA Bash(tm), but rather just an exasperated, cynical quip.
        tptacek 15y ago
        I clicked through. You know it's "car crash on freeway". I didn't! One or two posts stabbed at clarifying --- if you could see them through the conspiracy fever stuff and the "derp derp held the wrong way derp" comments. Anyways, I'm not trying to bag on you. My problem is with the whole site.
        weaksauce 15y ago
        I find that since removing karma from comments made me less inclined to participate and read the comments here. My participation is way down. My time is valuable and the comment scores, albeit a flawed metric, served a good purpose to filter out some of the less useful/insightful comments, I wish there was a toggle in the preferences that would allow people to turn it on per user.

Thank god this didn't happen in the USA. The poor iPhone owner would likely be imprisoned right now.

potatolicious 15y ago

I hate to be That Guy(tm), but only if his skin color was sufficiently dark.

tptacek 15y ago
You guys are both "that guy" right now. Pretty weird to see it coming from you.
- potatolicious 15y ago
  Come on. Imagine a bearded Middle Eastern man with a device that's glowing red hot and looking like it's about to explode, on a passenger plane. We live in an era where a few brown-skinned men praying on an airplane is enough to trigger passenger panic and the involvement of the FBI. Do you really think that, if the above happened and the passenger was unfortunately of the wrong race, that passengers would not immediately jump to the "terrorism" conclusion? In the last few years passengers have jumped to that conclusion for way less. [edit] I'm not saying this would've meant throwing someone into Gitmo and throwing away the key. But you have to admit, if this happened to anyone of Middle Eastern descent, there's not a chance he wouldn't have been detained and subject to a barrage of investigations.
  - tptacek 15y ago
    There is no way anyone who's phone battery ignited on a plane would be in prison, but beyond that, I'm just watching the arc of this thread bend towards dumbness and surprised to see you on it at all. Do I think racism is alive and well all around this country? How about, just guess, and then we can keep the discussion off HN. A few years ago, this might have been a thread about battery chemistry. Now it's about the TSA. I have to believe you think that's sad too.
    - yread 15y ago
      I don't think that's off topic at all. Few years ago (ok there was no HN in that day) this [1] wouldn't happen either. [1] http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/11/locked-in-lav-terror-scare/567754/1 http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/11/locked-in-la...
      - umarmung 15y ago
        Exactly. Good post. These kind of events can and routinely escalate just due to fear alone. It is also often at the expense of specific colored individuals.
    - potatolicious 15y ago
      There's really not much meat to the topic, after all - lithium battery explodes... this is pretty much an everyday occurrence everywhere, about as newsworthy as "car crash on freeway" and "pen explodes in pocket". Spectacular and scary, sure, but this is a topic that is neither surprising nor particularly alarming to a bunch of gadget geeks. Is it really any surprise that the bulk of the discussion is applying to meatier, more interesting/controversial tangents? In any case, my OP is not really meant to be a lightning rod for Yet Another TSA Bash(tm), but rather just an exasperated, cynical quip.
      - tptacek 15y ago
        I clicked through. You know it's "car crash on freeway". I didn't! One or two posts stabbed at clarifying --- if you could see them through the conspiracy fever stuff and the "derp derp held the wrong way derp" comments. Anyways, I'm not trying to bag on you. My problem is with the whole site.
        weaksauce 15y ago
        I find that since removing karma from comments made me less inclined to participate and read the comments here. My participation is way down. My time is valuable and the comment scores, albeit a flawed metric, served a good purpose to filter out some of the less useful/insightful comments, I wish there was a toggle in the preferences that would allow people to turn it on per user.